Saturday, December 25, 2010

Legalised Corruption

Private companies and civil service frown upon moonlighting and yet our MPs can take up directorships in private companies knowing full well there is conflict of interest. No wonder they have lost touch with ground level, too busy making money from of their 2nd, 3rd….etc jobs.

Most of them are only part time MPs and they are allow to hold on to their other profession. But many of them abuse this privilege and instead took up directorships in many companies. This shows they have so much time on their hand.

They should either put their heart into their MP job or get out. It is ridiculous to have part timers making important policies and decision on our country. No wonder we have such a large cabinet of ministers since most of them are part MPs.

This is a classical example on how our govt can be perceived as ‘clean’. They are very good in legalising abuse of power which is itself a form of corruption.

This is just an extract from Temasek Review - an online non-governmental citizen website.

MS Lee Bee Wah. Constituency, : Ang Mo Kio GRC
1.Tee International

DR Lee Boon yang :Jalan Besar GRC
1.Chairman of keppel Corp

Halimah Yacob: Jurong GRC.
1. SMRT

Ong Ah Heng :Nee Soon Central
1.comfort Delgro

Ong Kian Min :Tampines GRC
1.Penguin Int’l,
2.GMG global,
3.Lankom Elec,4.
5.Hupsteel,6.Robinson,
7.China energy,
8.Breadtalk,(formerly Osim)

Sin Boon Ann:Tampines GRC
1.Osim,,
2.MFS Tech,
3.CSE global,
4.Transview,
5.OUE

Seah Kian Peng: Marine Parade GRC.
1.Heatec jietong,
2.Soilbuild

Alvin Yeo: Hong Kah GRC-
1.keppel Corp,
2.UIC,
3.SingLand,
4.Thomson medical

Yeo Guat Kwang :Aljunied GRC
1.Japanland,
2.HLH,Koyo,
3.United environtech,
4.Asia Water,

Wee Siew Kim :Ang Mo Kio GRC -
1.ES Grp,
2.SBS Transit

Chan Soo Sen : Joo Chiat
1.Midas,
2.Breadtalk,
3.sunmoon,Cogent,(formerly MDR)

MDN Ho Geok Choo : West Coast GRC.
1.Select Grp

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Cult, Common Sense and Powerless

Our govt is very good at giving seemingly 'valid' reason as excuse not to diverge information that is not to their advantage. It is unsettling that they can go unchallenged and change our CPF policies till they have full control of our saving. The feeling is those money don't belong to us! Common sense has it that something is not right, yet we can't do anything except to feel powerless.

They have built a cult around 1 person and their party - which is unhealthy. Remember Alan Greenspan ? While he was Chairman of US Federal Reserve, he seemed to do no wrong. He was placed high up on the pedestal. Now on hindsight, he is 'credited' with precipitating the 2 major crisis -the tech bubble collapse in 2000 and economic meltdown in 2007.

We know even nonsensical policies can be passed which skewed statistic to make things look good. It happened in the US - Bureau of Labor Statistic (BLS) took the recommendation of Boskin Commission to use 'hedonic adjustments' which effectively made the CPI look better which in turn distorted the GDP figure. It was implemented in 1995 and only dropped a few years later ! It could happen in S'pore too.

Another famous cult builder is Chairman Mao. During his era he had implemented numerous disasterous policies and yet got away with them. His decades of absolute power over the lives of his citizens resulted in over 70 million deaths in peacetime. Even till now, he is still pretty much a cult figure in China. There is an inherent danger of having a leader and/or political party which build a cult around themselves as shield.

Even Town Council which main scope is estate management could squander away public fund doing what is suppose to be Temasek and GIC portfolio. So what is going on in Temasek and GIC is worrying since they operate like FBI, shrouded in secrecy. Remember Temasek CEO which they head hunted who left 'suddenly' just after a short period of seat warming ? The official reason is hard to believe. What could be the unofficial reason ? Perhaps he is uncomfortable with Temasek policies which he could not çhange ? Perhaps he discovered hidden skeleton which he is legally required to highlight but powerless to do so ? Or our almighty is uncomfortable with him asking too much questions ? So we have PM Lee wife back in her old seat.

Is it not common sense that it is not 'right' to have various members from the same family holding all the key and important positions in the country ? Besides, it is worrying that we too have - a cult builder with absolute power over the lives of its citizen.

Friday, December 3, 2010

PM Lee - Don't Try To Fool Us Again

PM Lee proclaimed loudly that we must maintain prudence and discipline to avoid massive welfare bureaucracy. Sigh...he should have address the issue of 'maintain prudence and discipline' to GIC, Temasek, Town Councils and even YOG organising committe instead, which 'eaten up' billions in public fund !

S'pore is in no danger of becoming a welfare state, with the bunch of uncaring ministers in the cabinet. With the exception of Ms Lily Neo who actively helped the elderly to be self sustaining. PM Lee and his cabinet will do well to learn from Ms Lily Neo if he wants to gain the respect of S'poreans.

We do not want a welfare state, we just want a caring govt who provide jobs instead of take away jobs and then loudly tell us to be self sustaining and approach our family for help if we are desperate.

Take the plight of our senior Samsui women who are the pioneer construction workers laying the foundation for S'pore. They worked hard and sent most of their earnings back to China to support their family. Now in their old aged, they are left to fend for themselves. This is just one examples. These needy folks deserve help. It is always the NGOs taking the lead, while the govt take a back seat. Should not the Govt take the lead instead and NGOs act as support group ?

There is a big different in a caring govt vs a welfare state. In fact PM Lee tried to fool us with his reasons giving Europe, Ireland...as case example. These have been rebuked as lies by more knowledgeable online citizens (than the PM), as their downfall has nothing to do with being a welfare state.

How to be self sustaining when jobs are not available, be it skilled or unskilled ? It is reported that in OpenNet island wide project, which requires skill labour, they employed foreigners at all levels - from contractors to sub contractors to sub-sub contractors. This give rise to problem as these foreign 'talents' are not familiar with local wiring system.

Is our govt policy on the right track ? Take away jobs from locals and create problem in the industry.

They have lie again to say that locals do not take up cleaning jobs, so we need foreigners, as this has not be substantiated by statistic which shows the unemployment rate for cleaners is high.

But now even skill jobs are also taken by foreigners. Can we trust this govt anymore ?

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Missing Strays

Two of my favourite stray cats are missing. They are so tame, could be easily caught. One is an older cat, a female which has successful given birth and brought up many litters and only recently sterilized. The other is a handsome maturing cat. He is a greedy one as he goes around eating other strays' food when he finishes his. He is told off many times other cats but that did not seems to deter him.

I hope they are not capture by pest control, which only means end of their lives. These pest control teams don't cat if the strays are sterilized or not. They just round them off. Now come to think of it, not sure how they put them down. I heard AVA cannot be trusted in putting down strays. I believe even if they are put down, it should be done humanely with as little stress as possible in the last moment.

I just hope they are taken in my kind souls. People like to pick cute kitten and not adult cats, so unlikely the older cat is adopted. The younger cat is also no longer a kitten.

Another of my concern is they are being 'eaten'. We have a change of cleaners recently. Some of them may come from countries which have no law or social repulsion against consuming cats/dogs. I heard of a case of foreign contractors catching abandon pet rabbit to cook for their meal.

I wonder if those induction courses for foreign workers touch on the topic that it is illegal to eat cats/dogs locally.